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Breville the Compact Wave Review

This pricey product failed to pair a top-notch performance with its premium price tag
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Breville the Compact Wave Review
Credit: Breville
Price:  $250 List
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Manufacturer:   Breville
Austin Palmer
By Austin Palmer ⋅ Senior Review Analyst  ⋅  April 14, 2025
Contributions From: David Wise
50
OVERALL
SCORE
  • Heating - 40% 4.9
  • Frozen Foods - 30% 6.0
  • Defrosting - 20% 3.0
  • Ease of Use - 10% 6.6

Our Verdict

The Breville The Compact Wave is a sleek and stylish kitchen appliance that would complement the modern aesthetic in most kitchens. It's very easy to use and does well with frozen foods, but we weren't too impressed with how this product scored across the board in our testing results. It struggled with defrosting and delivered overall lackluster results in our heating metrics. All in all, for most people we'd generally recommend another microwave from our testing over this one.
REASONS TO BUY
Soft-close door
Can mute sounds
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
So-so performance

Our Analysis and Test Results

The dial interface and sleek and stylish look of this product are sure to catch some looks in your kitchen, but your pocketbook might take quite a hit compared to other models.

breville the compact wave - this luxury product has a top-tier price tag but not a top-tier score.
This luxury product has a top-tier price tag but not a top-tier score.
Credit: Laura Casner

Heating


This test revealed a hot spot in the center of the microwave, as well as a ring along the outer edge that was noticeably warmer.

breville the compact wave - there was some noticeable variation in the heat map test.
There was some noticeable variation in the heat map test.
Credit: Matt Spencer

The Breville The Compact Wave is very fast at warming beverages, increasing the temperature of lukewarm water in the microwave by more than 95°F in under a minute.

breville the compact wave - this microwave can heat up food very quickly.
This microwave can heat up food very quickly.
Credit: Laura Casner

The Breville does an okay job of evenly heating leftovers, with only 10°F to 20°F of variation within different areas of each type of food. The sausages were warmer than the rest and were the only thing out of the three that we would consider ready to serve, with the vegetables both requiring a bit more time in the microwave.

breville the compact wave - the stark contrast in temperature is easily visible.
The stark contrast in temperature is easily visible.
Credit: Matt Spencer

The Breville heated the soup on the warmer side compared to other models. We measured the temperature at 163°F — more than hot enough to serve.

breville the compact wave - we did find the soup warm enough to serve.
We did find the soup warm enough to serve.
Credit: Matt Spencer

The Breville's reheated pizza was lackluster. The cheese wasn't melted sufficiently to our taste, and there were some noticeable cool spots close to the crust.

breville the compact wave - unfortunately, we weren't impressed by the pizza performance of the...
Unfortunately, we weren't impressed by the pizza performance of the Breville.
Credit: Matt Spencer

Frozen Foods


It did very well with the Hot Pocket, heating it evenly — though the outside wasn't as crisp as some of the others. There was only an average difference of about 6°F between different zones as well. There was about the same temperature difference in the personal-sized lasagna, but we found the bottom to be just a bit underdone and chewy in our taste test. However, the Breville did fail to heat the burrito sufficiently. The center was below the recommended serving temperature by around 11°F.

breville the compact wave - we found the breville to be slightly above-average when it came to...
We found the Breville to be slightly above-average when it came to premade frozen foods.
Credit: Laura Casner

Defrosting


The Breville doesn't alert you when to flip the ground meat, and only a little over half of the meat successfully defrosted in our testing, and unevenly at that. We had to put it back for a longer defrost to get it all thawed.

breville the compact wave - this microwave defrosted just over half of the frozen meat.
This microwave defrosted just over half of the frozen meat.
Credit: Matt Spencer

Ease of Use


We like that this microwave has ample interior light and a convenient to use “+30 seconds” button, along with a dial to set additional times. It can't function as a standalone timer, but we liked that you can mute the microwave. The soft close prevents you from shutting the door too hard, and the microwave doesn't easily slide around on the counter. The popcorn function also worked well, with the majority of the kernels popped without burning.

breville the compact wave - we were impressed with the popcorn preset of this product.
We were impressed with the popcorn preset of this product.
Credit: Matt Spencer

Should You Buy the Breville The Compact Wave?


Overall, we find this microwave to be fairly lackluster in overall performance. It's also smaller than many standard sized microwaves. These factors, along with its premium price tag, make us reluctant to recommend this for most people.

What Other Microwaves Should You Consider?


The GE JES1109RRSS or the Toshiba EM131A5C are both some of the most top-rated microwaves that we have tested to date, and both typically retail for less than the Breville.

—Austin Palmer & David WIse

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